Entries in Rybka
(4)

Stage 1a of season 9 of the TCEC is history, and Komodo (then version 9.42; the just-released version 10 will takes its place in stage 2) won with a super score of 14/15, giving up just two draws. Its chief rival, Houdini 4, was also undefeated going into their head-to-head battle in the last round, but lost to Komodo (I've posted the game here) finish a point and a half behind, a point ahead of fellow old-timer Rybka 4.1.

All of those programs and more qualified for stage 2, which will include the successful programs from stage 1b. The top program in that part of the draw is Stockfish, which surprisingly didn't manage to win in round 1 - albeit with Black - against a program (Vajolet) rated 301 points below it.

Recently Søren Riis wrote a four-part article in defense of Rybka programmer Vasik Rajlich against the International Computer Games Association's (ICGA's) charges that Rajlich plagiarized code. (To read Riis, here are part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.)

The ICGA has not ignored Riis's apologia, and both its president David Levy and University of Sydney mathematician Mark Watkins have authored replies. Levy's, which can be downloaded here, is shorter, more rhetorically based, while Watkins' more significant and meaty reply gets down into the technical details.

In early 2011, Vasik Rajlich was accused by the International Computer Games Association (ICGA) of plagiarism in writing his famous chess program Rybka, he was stripped of the world championship titles won with Rybka from 2007 to 2010, and banned for life from ICGA events. (Other than that, I think they liked him.)

It has been quite a while now, but there's a new and vigorous defense of Rajlich by one Dr. Søren Riis against what the author considers ICGA overreach. Two parts are out now (there's a third part coming soon), and they can be read here and here. He makes some interesting points, and it's good that Rajlich has someone defending him.